The Cost of a Parking Spot in DC

• April 11, 2014

by Lark Turner

Lately UrbanTurf has looked at length at DC’s endemic parking issues. But what will permanently solving the problem of circling your home for a spot cost you? We decided to take a closer look at the current cost of buying a parking space in various parts of the city, as well as how much it would cost to rent a spot in those neighborhoods. Here’s the rundown:

Buying

Last time we took a look at parking spots for sale, Georgetown and Dupont Circle took the top spots when it came to cost — no surprise given the price of real estate and general scarcity of parking in those two neighborhoods. Other neighborhoods are now catching up.

The general thinking when we covered the cost of parking in 2011 was that a space in most sections of the city would run you $25,000 to $30,000, whether you were purchasing an individual space or factoring in the cost when buying a home that included a spot. Now, you would need to tack another $5,000 to $10,000 on to that price tag. Prices have risen most notably in Columbia Heights and Logan Circle, where a garage spot would run you about $35,000, compared to $25,000 in 2011.

Here is a sampling of what parking spots around town are asking:

• An indoor spot in a Columbia Heights garage — $35,000.
• An spot at a Cleveland Park garage — $40,000, with a $5/month fee.
• An indoor spot in Logan Circle — $35,000.
• An outdoor spot at a condominium near Stadium Armory Metro — $8,000.
• An UrbanTurf reader recently wrote in saying that she had pegged the value of her outdoor parking space in Glover Park at $40,000. She paid $27,000 in 2008.

The far-and-away winner of the parking price competition in this round is a single-space garage at 1716 34th Street NW listed at $97,500. Even for Georgetown, the price seems high, and the garage has been on the market for quite a while.

Renting

For comparison, here’s how much it would cost you to rent a spot in different areas around the city, using data from Parking Spotter and Craigslist:

• Georgetown: $185-$300/month
• Dupont Circle: $200-$300/month, highly dependent on distance to Metro
• Capitol Hill: $120-$250/month, highly dependent on distance to Capitol
• Columbia Heights: $100-$200/month
• Cleveland Park: $100-$200/month
• Logan Circle: $175-$275/month

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_cost_of_a_parking_spot_in_dc/8348